United States Works Progress Administration Sponsored Surveys and Studies

49 volumes of Erie County road width study: Alphabetical by town name.

A4179-10: Arranged by ward and therein alphabetical by surname.

This series consists of copies of surveys and studies conducted under W.P.A. sponsorship. Most studies apparently are not published. These studies are on many subjects, but tend to focus on real estate values, land use, and population in communities in New York State.

Some samples of studies included are: Utica housing survey; real property survey (several cities); real property inventory; Mt. Vernon master plan; report on Albany transients and homeless; study of 500 maladjusted young people in Rochester; school population study, Syracuse; police arrest survey, Buffalo; index of laws affecting Erie County; social and economic survey of Indian reservations.

Published Research Project on the Legal Width of Roads in Erie County, 1937-1939. 5 cubic feet. These softbound, mimeographed volumes were produced as a Works Project Administration project sponsored by Erie County. The volumes contain town road and lot maps, extracts from local records, and narrative descriptions of road routes. From these volumes one can determine when, where, and under what legal procedure roads were laid out and named. Most of the records abstracted are cited by page number as town or village "road records" or are from county deed books and survey maps and notes. At the end of the series is a short volume containing extracts from statutes affecting the laying out of roads.

A4179-00: This accretion consists of one bound unpublished report submitted by the Division of Women's and Professional Projects concerning professional and service projects in New York State. Projects described in the report include sewing, librarianship, assessment of public records, museum projects, engineering surveys, legal studies, traffic surveys, and economic surveys.

A4179-10: This accretion consists of a typescript index to 1850 federal census records for the city of Buffalo, N.Y. The index covers city wards 1-5 and provides data, where available, in the following fields: name, age, sex, birthplace, occupation, census page number, and reference. The index also contains an alphabetical listing of deaths recorded in the 1850 census. This list includes name, marital status, occupation (adult males only), age, sex, birthplace, death date, ward, and census page number.

Each volume of Erie County road width study includes an index to past and contemporary street names.

1943 accession: transferred by the Works Progress Administration of New York to the State Library in 1943; later transferred to the State Archives as part of old collection #550, accession -372.

Erie County road width study:transferred to the State Library at an unknown date after the WPA ceased operating; later transferred to the State Archives as boxes 101-105 of old collection #551, accession -372 (Federal Writers' Project Files).

A4179-00: This accretion was transferred from the State Library and accessioned by the Archives in December 2000.

A4179-10: This original typescript was created from an index compiled by the Works Progress Administration, under the auspices of the Grosvenor Library in Buffalo, N.Y., during the period 1939-1940. The typescript was subsequently transferred to the New York State Library at an unknown date. The original index remained in possession of Erie County. The State Library used the original typescript to create a preservation photocopy, as well as a microfiche copy. These copies were retained by the State Library and the original typescript was transferred to the New York State Archives and accessioned in 2010.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.